[recovered, circa 2007-2009]
stone god
stone eyes
stone heart
alone
and so to you i pray
to you i plead
i am but flesh
soft bone
why do you refuse
to answer me?
does your confidence, so lacking
require my sacrifice as proof
of your strength - your immutability?
dear canada, you are safe
your indigenous are almost forgotten
your white guilt sheds crocodile tears
a fresh wave of immigrant colonizers cloaks your oncoming karma in the echoes of the first nations' dying breaths
This is my parody of the Everything Is AWESOME!!! song:
Everything is broken
Everything’s on fire and high priority
Everything is broken
And out of warranty
Everything would be better with best practices
But in practice it’s all rushed into slacknesses
Let’s hurry forever
We’re the same, I’m like you, you’re like me
We are just working for money
Everything is broken
Everything’s on fire and high priority
Everything is broken
And out of warranty
Woo! Three, two, one, go!
Have you heard the news? Everyone’s talking
Life is shit ’cause everything’s broken
Lost my job, no new opportunities
No free time for my non-existent communities
I feel more broken than a broken token
Drown my sorrow in chocolate frosting
Three years later, wash off the frosting
Smelling like a hobo, everything is broken
Stepped in poop, got new brown shoes
It’s awesome to win but frustrating to lose, frustrating to lose
Everything is better when we stick together
But no time, you and I are gonna race forever
Let’s hurry forever
We’re the same, I’m like you, you’re like me
We are just working for money
Everything is broken
Everything’s on fire and high priority
Everything is broken
And out of warranty
Polluted skies, delayed springs
We just named two shitty things
War and famine, a shoelace string
You know what’s broken? Everything!
Reliable news, civilities
We’ve not learned from antiquities
Simple features, passing tests,
Poor security vipers’ nests,
Drought, frogs, cogs, they’re broken
Crops, clocks, and socks, they’re broken
Police, brigs, oil rigs, they’re broken
Everything you see or think or say is broken
Everything is broken
Everything’s on fire and high priority
Everything is broken
And out of warranty
we submit ourselves to wage slavery in order to commit our children to the unsavory
in the vain hopes of them training through the competitive pre-primary-secondary-tertiary production line that tunnels straight into the factories of the forgotten far below the morbid mountains of misdirected minds
competing for golden tickets to burn out churning and burning oils and animals, oceans and jungles to line other peoples' pockets
and that’s if they’re not broken down by the social education engine first
we measure our successes in days and nights overflowing with busywork and bureaucracies
we measure our failures in welfare cheques with strings attached to draw and quarter us down into charities
instead of the very communities that they were supposed to be uplifting
we passionately play job roulette in the hope of winning roles that won't *only* pay us to be miserable
we optimize our fad diets, ingest caffeine and pop pills
but still it takes every ounce of will we can muster just to zombie-lurch through each day
too anxious to perform properly while pretending that everything's okay
we offer ourselves up on the altars of our addictions
to pharmaceuticals or exercise or sports or games
to television and social media channels that distract and rot our brains
with sordid simulations of society, nonsense narratives obscuring futility
we'll give ourselves over to literally any kind of fantasy that might help us temporarily forget our existential pain reality
we chase down our nightmares with spirits
to drown our spirits and bring on dreamless sleep and cotton-mouth mornings
after whole lives chasing smoke through halls of mirrors we're too tired and stressed to rest
to make memories that fuel us
to write our own stories that build us
once upon a time we didn't have all of these modern inconveniences
and our society in its denial has maintained the useful lie that luddites were against technology
but in actual fact their fight was for their right to continue living their lives on their own terms
setting their own hours
spending their borrowed time on their families
constructing their communities
the original luddite rage was against the same perpetual energy consuming industrial complex machine that's held its iron grip around our necks for so long that we only remember our freedoms in advertising materials, political propaganda
and other children's tales designed to hold back the looming revolution
we've all been generationally traumatized by lifetimes of trying to keep up with the runaway gunpowder-germ-and-steel train
on foot
we’ve no time to grab our stumbling neighbors by the hand without falling behind ourselves
our breaths are short, our lungs are burning and our muscles are on fire, but we keep on running
we’ve no time to consider that this train's tracks are not a viable, reliable route to surviving our relentless race to the future
to consider that there might be alternate modes of transport that we can use to get to dust B from dust A
modes that let us ride with our soulmates and even sing along the way
we can walk, we can ride, we can slip, we can slide
just as long as we make sure to always remember the golden rule of "never go it alone"
because you don't have to do this alone.
you. don't. have. to do. this. alone.
you. don't. have. to do. this. alone.
you. don't. have. to do. this. alone.
our internalized social functioning inversions have generated mass hallucination diversions and left us wired up to implode
we inadvertently drive ourselves and our kids to either shoot up or shoot out, and then reload
everything seems to be broken, but it’s not just the compasses in our pointing fingers
you see, we blame the rich, we blame the glitch, we blame the cheat, we blame the snitch,
we blame the poor, we blame the pure, we blame the sick, we blame the cure,
we blame the company, the individual, we blame the economy, and the aboriginal,
we blame the foreigners, we blame their gods, we blame our own with their golden rods
but it doesn't matter who's at fault
because we're all full of faults
and the fixing's down to each and every one of us if we want to bring this grim storyline to a halt
the truth is there isn’t anybody who will save us but ourselves
there’s no hero in a cape, or band of plucky dwarves and elves
we need to bridge the gaping chasms of our fractured collective consciousness
pull together if we're going to reach towards redemption, rebuild our self-confidence
we need to dig ourselves out of our self-imposed prisons where we serve without a crime
even if we can only afford to do so one single disposable plastic teaspoon at a time
stop.
take a breath.
grab the first hand that you see.
help, and be helped.
there's more to life than just "you" or "me".
don't
be afraid.
try to remember why you're here.
this epic adventure began long ago
where we're headed's still not clear.
if you try to do it anyone else's way
it will be hard just to survive
so don't *ever* let anyone tell you
there's only one right way to thrive.
